Live Laugh Love Learn
by Ms Alex James
Summary: On Hiatus In Harry’s sixth year, he’s about to learn some very important lessons about life and how you live it. With help from the new DADA professor, the Next Generation Marauders is born.
1. Owl Post

AN: Summary

In Harry's sixth year, he's about to learn some very important lessons about life and how you live it. Harry's about to take control over his life, starting with the direction it takes. He decides it's time for some help from the new DADA professor, to get some extra training. Harry finally begins to understand how important friends really are.

This is my first fan fiction, so please be kind! Read and review please!

**Chapter One: **_Owl Post_

It was almost midnight and Harry Potter sat at his desk, in the smallest room of number four, Privet Drive. He sat silently, staring at the wall in front of him, thinking about the past four weeks of his summer vacation. Living with the Dursley's wasn't how he wanted to spend his summers, but he had no choice. Not with someone out to kill him.

You see, Harry Potter is an underage wizard. He attended Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and spent ten months out of the year there. He even had friends there as well.

With that thought in his head, Harry looked at the pile of unopened letters from his friends and sighed. They were probably worried about him, with what happened at the end of last term.

Before he had the chance to be angry with himself for the hundredth time, out of the corner of his eye, he saw three owls heading towards his window. He got up and opened the window for the owls.

As they landed, Harry recognized two of them. His snowy white owl, Hegwig, carried what looked like a card. After grabbing it, Hedwig hooted lightly and flew to her perch. Next, Harry relieved Pig of his burden. Pig headed to Hedwig's perch, and began to drink water. Harry then turned to the unfamiliar brown owl, which held out his leg. Cautiously, Harry untied the letter and watched the owl fly back out the window.

After watching it go, he looked at the letter in his hand. It was his Hogwarts letter. My OWL results, he thought. I almost forgot!

Harry quickly broke the seal and pulled out an official looking letter. Taking a deep breath, he thought, Well, here goes nothing.

_Dear Mr Potter,_

_Here are your OWL results. Please notify me by owl no later than August 15th with your class selections._

_Signed, Professor McGonagall_

_CourseResult_

_AstronomyE_

_Care of Magical CreaturesO_

_CharmsE_

_Defense Against the Dark ArtsO_

_DivinationP_

_HerbologyA_

_History Of MagicA_

_PotionsO_

_TransfigurationO_

_Number of OWLs: 8_

Happy birthday to me, Harry thought, grinning. Putting his results aside, Harry reached for the card that Hedwig had brought. Opening it, Harry recognized the writing as Ginny's. Confused, he started reading.

_Happy Birthday, Harry!_

_I would have sent your present, too, but you'll be here for your birthday anyways. You would have known that if you had bothered to read our letters! But, no worries, I'll see you soon. I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. We'll be at your place by 10, so have your things packed!_

_Love, Ginny_.

Harry suddenly felt as if he would explode with happiness. He was going to be with his friends! Feeling better than he had in the last month, Harry reached for the last letter, which was attached to the parcel.

_Happy Birthday, mate!_

_We know you're going to be here tomorrow, but we wanted to send this anyways. You'll get the rest once you get to HQ. In case you haven't guessed, or haven't been reading our letters, Hermione is here. Neville and Luna got here last night, too. Well, I better close this off so I can send it out. See you tomorrow!_

_Ron_

_P.S. Half of this is from Hermione._

Harry then turned to the package. Opening it, he found a deck of Muggle cards, which he assumed were from Hermione. Underneath that, he found several Wizarding photos in frames.

One was of Hermione, Ron and himself at Grimmauld Place over Christmas the year before, grinning like crazy and waving, Then next one was of the Weasley family and Harry, taken over Christmas as well. The last one was taken in the Gryffindor Common room, just before the end of term feast. It was of the Gryffindor Quidditch House Team and Harry, all holding their brooms, grinning and waving. The pictures made his heart soar. He definitely couldn't wait to get back to school.

He got up and put the pictures in his school trunk and started packing his things. Once that was done, Harry laid down on his bed and drifted off to sleep.


	2. Back To Headquarters

**Chapter Two: **_Back To Headquarters_

Harry woke up at nine and got dressed. He put on on a pair of jeans and a tight fitting green shit. Finally, he had clothes that fit. A week into summer holidays, Harry and his guard for the day, Remus Lupin, went to Muggle London to go shopping. Thinking of his parents' and Sirius' best friend brought a small smile to Harry's face. The werewolf had some pretty funny stories.

Remus had become Harry's guardian at the beginning of the summer, and, even though Harry still had to live with the Dursley's, Remus came by every other day so that they could sit and talk or play games.

After getting dressed, Harry went outside and into the front yard. He was wondering who his guard was for his birthday, when a young woman with bubble gum pink hair stepped out from behind the bushes.

"Whotcher, Harry! Happy Birthday!"

Harry grinned. "Hey, Tonks. You my baby sitter for the day?"

Tonks laughed. "You bet. Asked for it specially. I won't be able to come with you to HQ today, so I wanted to give you your present now."

"You didn't have to, but thanks." Harry took the package that Tonks had pulled out of her back pocket. Tonks then did a counter charm to put it back to its original size. By the size, shape and weight, Harry knew it was a book. But coming from Tonks, it was bound to be good. Opening it, Harry found that he was right. 'Charms for Concealment' looked to be very promising. Thanking her, Harry sat with the Auror, talking about whatever came to mind until ten, when five wizards and witches, dressed in Muggle clothes, walked up.

Remus, Ron, Ginny, Charlie and Hermione came up to where Harry and Tonks were sitting on the front lawn.

Harry jumped up and hugged Hermione and Ginny, catching her by surprise, then shook hands with Remus, Ron and Charlie. Harry grinned and felt that he couldn't be happier.

"Hiya, Harry. Having a good Birthday?" Charlie asked, grinning down at him.

"Sure am. I get to spend it with my friends." Harry replied.

"Good, good. Ready to go? We need to head out now."

Harry nodded, and then ran into the house and up to his room, Charlie following closely behind. Grabbing his trunk, Charlie let Hedwig out of her cage, then shrinking it and putting it in his pocket, they headed back downstairs, Harry calling a quick goodbye to the Dursley's, and heading back outside. Once there, Harry put Tonks' present into his trunk, then Remus pulled out an old boot-turned-portkey.

The six called goodbye to Tonks just before the familiar pull came from Harry's navel, signaling the portkey's activation. Harry hated traveling by portkey almost as mush as by floo. As his vision refocused, Harry saw that they were in the front hall of number twelve, Grimmauld Place. Thinking of Sirius, he felt the now familiar tug at his heart. He pushed it aside. He didn't want to think about it at all today.

All at once, the five remaining Weasley's came into the hall. Molly Weasley immediately pulled Harry into one of her famous bone crushing hugs. Harry just laughed and hugged her back, though not as fiercely. As soon as Mrs Weasley let him go, the other Weasley's were grasping his hand and clapping him on the back.

"Charlie took your things upstairs already. Now, the others will be here soon, so I've got to finish up in the kitchen. Remus, care to take Harry up to his room?" Without waiting for a reply, Mrs Weasley headed back into the kitchen.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all followed Remus up the stairs. Harry figured he'd be in the same room as last summer, so when Remus kept going up the staircase, Harry was confused. Up on the third floor, Remus opened a door and walked in, waiting for the 'fearsome foursome' to follow.

When they did, Harry got a shock. He was standing in the Master Bedroom. Directly in front of him was a King size bed and a nightstand on either side of it. On the right side of the bed was a bookcase. Further past that was two doors. Most likely to the closet and a bathroom. On the left side of the room was a dresser and a desk. In the corner was a perch and Hedwig's cage sat on the floor. And, as Mrs Weasley had said, his school trunk was at the end of the bed.

Harry looked at Remus with a confused look on his face.

"Sirius left the house to you, Harry," Remus replied, as if it explained everything. "I'm going to head downstairs to see if Molly needs help. We'll talk later, Harry." Remus gave Harry a smile and headed for the door.

"I guess that's our cue as well. See you downstairs?" Ron asked, after receiving a glare from Hermione.

Harry nodded in reply, smiling at his best friends. Ron and Hermione left, expecting Ginny to follow. But she didn't. She stood there studying him.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, fine."

"I know you didn't read any of our letters." Harry heard the hurt in her voice. "Anyway, I just wanted you to know that we're all here for you, Harry, if you ever wanted to talk."

Harry gave her a small smile. "I know you guys are. I appreciate it, Gin, I really do."

"I should head downstairs, too. Just come down when you're ready."

Harry nodded, and then watched the redhead walk away. She's gotten beautiful, Harry thought. The he shook his head as if to dislodge the thought. Not going there. She doesn't need someone like me. She'll just get hurt. Harry sighed, then walked to his trunk and started putting his things away. Then he grabbed a change of clothes and headed into the bathroom for a shower.


	3. Birthday at Grimmauld Place

A/N hey... forgot to put that disclaimer on the first chap... so, here it is:

I am not making any money off this. I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters that you recognize. I wish I did, but I don't. They belong to JK Rowling; bless her and her writing talents. So please, don't sue. This is what I do with what spare time I have. And that's not much at all (sadly).

There. Now that that's done, on to chapter Three!

**Chapter Three: **_Birthday at Grimmauld Place_

After getting dressed, Harry looked in the mirror. He spent ten minutes trying to get his hair to lie flat before giving up. Grabbing a profit hat that he bought from Muggle London, he put it on backwards. Harry figured the fact that it hid his lightning bolt shaped scar an added bonus.

Harry sat down on the bed, wondering what to do with himself. He didn't want to go back downstairs yet. As if in answer, something on one of the nightstands caught his eye. It looked like a letter and it had his name on it. Harry picked it up, recognizing the writing. He quickly opened it and started reading.

_Harry,_

_If you're reading this, it means I've died. I hope I died fighting, and not of boredom. Little bit of dry humor there. Listen, Pup, don't start feeling sorry for yourself or think it was your fault. Because whatever happened, it wasn't. I do what I do, not what someone else wants me to do._

_I've had a great life and with any luck, I'm with James and Lily right now. At least I hope I am. The one thing I'll regret is not getting to know you any better than I did._

_I'm leaving you with a few gifts and a piece of advice. My first gift to you is my motor cycle, Faith. I know you'll take good care of her. Next, I'm leaving you Grimmauld Place. It doesn't look like much, but it'll be home for you. I'm also leaving you all the gold in my Gringotts vault. The only thing I ask is that you take care of Moony. He's the last Marauder. Make sure he always has somewhere to live and take him shopping, for the love of Merlin! Drag him if you have to, Pup!_

_Now, finally, my advice to you. Don't take anything for granted. Life is too short to be looking over your shoulder all the time. Fall in love, get married, have a dozen kids (Merlin help us when you do have children). I know the perfect red head for the job. And don't push people who care about you away. You'll need them in the final fight against Tom Riddle. Live everyday like it's your last._

_Remember this: Your parents love you and are proud of you. Same goes for me._

_Love, Sirius "Padfoot" Black_

Harry wiped the tears from his eyes and refolded the letter, putting it in his back pocket. The he went to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. As he was patting his face dry, Harry heard someone call his name. He hung up the towel and walked out of the bathroom. Remus was standing by the door with a smile on his face.

"I got elected to come and get you. Everyone's downstairs waiting." Remus said, a twinkle in his eye that hadn't been present just a few hours ago.

Harry shrugged and followed Remus downstairs and into the living room. As soon as the duo entered the room, shouts of happy birthday hit him. Harry laughed and looked around the room. All of the Order of the Phoenix was there, as were Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. Hermione, Ron and Ginny were grinning at him.

Harry spent the duration of the party going from one person to the next, talking and laughing. They all sat down to dinner and enjoyed conversation, then had cake and presents. Hermione, in typical fashion, gave Harry a book entitled 'Everyday Charms for Housework'; he also got a four book set from Bill, 'Curses and Their Counter-Curses'; and a set of Auror training books from Professor McGonagall. He got Quidditch gear from Ron; Dragon hide clothing from Charlie; a pensieve from Professor Dumbledore; Weasleys Wizard Wheezes from the Twins; a hand for the Weasley clock; a practice snitch from Ginny; and a Wizarding watch from the D.A.

At the end of the day, Harry was ready to call it a night and head off to bed. After thanking everyone, he headed upstairs to his room. Once there, he spotted something that wasn't there before. A Trunk. Just as he was about to take a closer look at it, Remus spoke from the door.

"It was your dad's. He wanted you to have it." Remus then threw a set of keys at him. "On there you'll find the keys to the trunk, the house, Padfoot's vault and Faith. In the trunk you'll also find the keys to the Potter family vault and Potter Mansion."

Harry looked from the trunk to Remus and then back to the trunk. "I think I'll wait to see," he said, before walking to the bed and sitting down.

"You okay?"

"Not really, but what else is new?" Harry replied, sighing.

Remus joined Harry on the bed and studied him for a few moments before commenting.

"You know, Harry, you really should be doing something to channel everything that you're feeling."

"Are you volunteering to let me hex you into next week?"

Remus laughed and replied: "No, but I know someone who can help you, the Muggle way."

"The Muggle way? You sound like a television add." Harry laughed.

"Yes, the Muggle way, and don't be such a brat."

"What do you mean, The Muggle way? What way is that?"

"Would you be willing?"

"I guess. Couldn't hurt, right?"

"I'll talk to my friend tonight and see if I can set something up for tomorrow. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good. But you should see if Ron, Hermione and Ginny are interested. They might like to join."

"I'll let you talk to them, after you see what you're up against."

"It isn't going to kill me, is it, Moony?" Harry asked, suspicion laced in his voice.

"Of course not. What kind of Guardian would I be if I let you do something that could kill you? Feeling pain, though, is out of my hands."

"Listen, Werewolf, I could easily hex you into next week."

"I know," he replied, getting up and heading to the door with a laugh. "I'll let you know the plan tomorrow morning. Bright and early."

A/N Sorry about taking so long. Things have been pretty crazy. The next update won't be that far behind (I hope) but no promises. Until next time!

Alex James


	4. The Muggle Way

Okay, hopefully these chapters are going to start getting longer, and more into the plotline, but I'm kind of finding it hard to get going. Work has finally slowed down, as I'm now only working two days a week instead of six; but replacing work is school, which starts next week, so I'm kind of getting in my social life time before then.

I'm going to try writing a few chapters at a time, but only posting one at a time, so that the updates are more often, but I'm not promising anything.

Don't forget to review, please. Helps me find out what it is I'm doing wrong.

Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter does not belong to me. I just live in it.

**Chapter Four: **_The Muggle Way_

As promised, Remus woke Harry up the next morning, bright and early.

Harry groaned and he tried to push the sleep induced cobwebs out of his head. "I feel like I just went to sleep," he commented, his voice thick with sleep. Then he looked at the clock. "Well, that explains it. I did just go to sleep. Remus it's only five. Go away and come back at nine."

"Come on, Little One. Time to get up. Get dressed and come downstairs."

With that, Remus left the room to let Harry get out of bed. Harry groaned again, but got up and headed for the dresser. He pulled out a pair of loose fitting jeans and a black t-shirt. He pulled on a pair of socks and his runners then ran his fingers through his hair. Not going to work, he thought to himself before heading downstairs to give another piece of his mind for waking him up before the sun was up. That was just cruel, he thought, rounding the corner and stopping in the kitchen.

Remus was sitting at the table with a mug of tea. Across from his was a young woman, about twenty or so, wearing loose pants and a t-shirt, sipping tea from another mug.

Remus looked up and saw Harry standing in the doorway. He motioned for him to continue, which he did, and sat down at the table.

"So, what's for breakfast? Seeing as how you so politely got me out of bed this early in the morning." Harry asked, fighting back a yawn.

"Breakfast isn't until eight. You can eat with everyone else."

"Then why am I up now?"

"Because we need to talk about what you're going to be leaning, then start. Don't worry. Tomorrow, you don't have to be downstairs until six. Today, we just needed a little bit more to time talk and get to know each other." The woman said.

"Oh, well then. Why didn't you just say so."

"By the way, my name is Kallie Daniels. It'll be fine if you call me Kallie when we're alone, or here, but once the school term starts, only while we're training."

Harry nodded absentmindedly, before the words she spoke caught up with his tired mind.

"Why when the school term starts?" Harry asked.

"Kallie is the new Defense professor." Remus replied, getting up from the table to refill his mug.

"Well, then, I guess congratulations are in order." Harry said, grinning.

"Thank you. I hope I can live up to Hogwarts standards."

"You do fine. Trust me, anyone is better than last year's professor."

Kallie smiled and got up. "Well, let's get started."

Harry followed Kallie outside and into the back yard.

"So, what exactly is it that we're doing?"

"Have you ever done hand to hand combat?" Kallie asked.

"No, not really." Harry replied, running his hand through his hair.

"That is what we'll be doing. You'll need to be downstairs by six, every morning. We'll be starting with a run around the block a few times, then we'll be coming back here, and I'll start training you in hand to hand."

Harry nodded, sighing. Welcome to the rest of my summer holidays, he thought, following Kallie in the pre-run stretches.

A/N I know, I said this one was going to be longer, but the chapter was starting to turn away from where it was supposed to go. Sorry about that. I promise the next chapter is going to be longer. Next chapter, it's off to school!

Thanks to my reviewers!

drowning goldfish: Thanks for the review! I'm definitely going to keep this story up, because I can't wait to find out if this ends the way I hope it does. lol.

Mad Scientist II: Thanks for the review. I'm glad you think it's going good so far. Hope you like this one.

Until next time!

Alex


	5. Start Of Term

Hey guys. Chapter five is up. Updates will, unfortunately, be slow going, as I need to focus on school and work right now. But, I will update at every chance. Just keep reviewing and I'll keep updating! The more reviews I get, the faster I'll update.

But, enough of that. Disclaimer's still the same as last time. I don't own the Harry Potter world. I just visit there when my world is boring. (Which seems to be happening quite a bit lately.)

**Chapter Five: **_The Start of Term_

The pattern was set that first day of Muggle Training, as Harry preferred to call it.

Every morning, Harry would get up at five thirty, get dressed and head downstairs to have tea with Remus and Kallie. Then for two hours, Harry and Kallie would spend time outside, training. At eight, the duo would have breakfast with the rest of the house members. After breakfast, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Neville and Luna would all work on their summer homework.

Usually, after lunch, the six would sit in the living room, playing games. More often then not, Ron challenging everyone who set foot in the room to a game of Wizarding Chess, while the others would play Exploding Snap.

Then after dinner, Ron and Hermione would sneak off, thinking that no one knew they were together; and Neville and Luna would walk around outside. At those points, Harry and Ginny would normally sit in the living room and read or sit and talk.

Because of those talks and the time they would spend together, Harry and Ginny grew closer. Ginny got fully over her shyness around Harry and they began to trust each other.

Two weeks after Harry started his training, he and Kallie talked about asking the other five to join them. When it was decided, Harry sought them out and asked them. Ron, Hermione and Ginny eagerly said yes. Neville and Luna decided to test it out and see if they were interested in doing it over the school year.

So, after that, the six friends got to work on training. Neville seemed to enjoy himself, but towards the beginning of the term, he and Luna both decided that it wasn't something for them. No hard feelings to any of them.

And so, the 'fearsome foursome' worked hard at advancing their skills.

Three days before the term started, the four sixth years sat and looked at their chosen courses for the next year. All four of them had decided to take Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures. In addition, Harry had also decided to take Transfiguration and Potions. Neville also decided on Potions and Herbology. Ron was going to take Transfiguration and Herbology. Hermione was going to be taking Astrology and Transfiguration.

With that decided the four sixth years, as well as Ginny and Luna, headed to Diagon Alley with Mrs Weasley. Once there, she set them out to do their shopping with the promise to be safe and careful. Harry knew, without being told, that there were several Order members around Diagon Alley, watching out for the teenagers. But, for some reason, that didn't bother him anymore.

The rest of the summer break was spent running around Headquarters, trying to get everything packed. Even with three days of packing, as per usual, Ron and Harry were running behind on the morning of the first of September.

They got a compartment on the train and sat there talking and playing games, waiting to be able to put their robes on for another year at Hogwarts.

The train ride was, as previous years went, uneventful. Unless you call the yearly visit from Malfoy and company eventful.

&&&&&

The first few weeks of school went by quickly. Harry still had training with the others in the morning, with Professor Daniels. And his classes were harder than any other year. By far, his favorite class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, with Professor Daniels; Trans-figuration coming in second. That year, they were focusing on human transfiguration, which was the class Harry was waiting for. Ever since he found out that his father and his best friends had become Animagi, Harry had wanted to learn how to do it, if he could.

When he brought that up to his three best friends, they took a quick interest.

"Wonder what animal I'd be?" Ron asked, biting his lip.

"I don't know... your Animagus form reflects your personality. So, who knows? Maybe you'll be a squirrel." Ginny said, laughing.

Ron sent a glare towards his little sister, and then grinned.

"I think we should try to do it."

"Ginny's right." Ron agreed. "Wonder if we could do it?"

"Hermione, do you think you could look it up in the library?" Harry asked, eyeing her.

"I could try. But with all this homework, I'm not sure how long it will take."

"I'll ask Remus and see if he remembers what books the others looked in."

"But do you think he'd know? Or remember? I mean, didn't the others surprise him with the Animagus stuff?" Ron asked, looking around the ring of friends.

They were sitting in their favorite spots by the common room fire. They had been adopted as 'their spots' sometime the year before.

"Ron, I think that had to have been the most intelligent thing you've said in the whole time that I've known you." Harry remarked, laughing with the two girls.

Ron started to turn pink, and then said, "Well, its true isn't it?"

&&&&&

Yeah, I know. I said it would be a long chapter, but I was suddenly struck with an idea. And it doesn't happen often, so I've decided to embrace it. I'll try to do a double update, but I'm not guaranteeing anything...

Now, to thank my reviewers:

**Cherry and the Wolf-** I'm glad that had you gigglying... which isn't a word by the way, LITTLE sister... anywhoo, here you go, another chapter...

**Jojo-** hey, thanks for the review... I'm glad you thought it was a good start... I wasn't too sure myself, as I'm not too great at starting stuff, but hey, I tried, right?

**volleypickle16-** thanks for the review!

Anyways, I also wanted to tell you guys: I started a story with my sister, Yoshikuni-Miharu, called The Muggle Way. You should go read it, its good... and I'm not just saying that because I helped write it... lol... now that that's done, time to post!

'Til next time!

Alex


End file.
